LUMIÈRE! Cannes Spiritual Leader’s Masterclass

It was just a question of time in this digital restoration era for brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière, credited with the invention of Cinema as we know it, to be introduced properly to a 21st century audience.

Launched today (for Montrealers it’s at Centre PHI, January 26-27-28), LUMIÈRE!Offers a selection of more than a hundred shorts produced by the brothers and their affiliates between 1895 and 1905. It is all beautifully edited together and commented, in the fashion of a DVD audio commentary (or a Masterclass) by Cannes Film Festival Godfather himself, Thierry Frémaux. And we have to admit he is making an offer film buffs can’t refuse.

LUMIÈRE! is not only an essential homage. It introduces us to the beginnings of a new language, the movies. It also provides significant ethnological and historical value for scholars or researchers with its superb preservation of moving images from more than a century ago. We see the world moving as it was. Despite the fact the voiceover may sound at times a bit didactic, any decent person who presents itself as a film buff should attend as well as film students who want to know what the medium of Cinema is about besides cocktails and red carpets.